thiosk:[quote="Zachary Amaranth" post="6.821582.19853412"]Okay, so here's the thing that rubs me: A monopoly generally fixes prices high. If the end result is you raise prices in competing with a monopoly, you're doing something wrong. This is one of the reasons Steam/Origin is such a mess. Any complaints one might have about Steam are at least partially nullified by the further anti-consumer practices of EA. Similarly, if your prices are going up 50%, it's probably not because you're out to break a monopoly.

Also, Amazon didn't have a monopoly. Sony at least had a robust market going on. I weighed the two heavily before I threw down with the Kindle, and I mostly did so because I can more imagine Sony going out of the ebook business than Amazon.

I want to be published, for the record. Those prices actually kind of scare me as both a consumer and a would-be creator.

Apple has created a market where a lot of ebooks I've looked for are more expensive than the print version./quote]

What irritates me about this situation is that it is an attempt to form a cartel, rather than break a monopoly. The publishers are well aware that they have a problem; ebooks have just about slayed the mega bookstores that had evicerated in turn the mom and pops. You smell blood in the water, you strike, but the moves to form this dinosaur squad under apple strikes me the wrong way and I don't like it.

I'm not sure what amazons self publication policies are, or the real potential for self publication in today's market. Intuition tells me that getting more per book is good, and feelings tell me publishers probably aren't great for the little guy, but I'm not in that business.

This isn't about monopoly, this is about monosopy. Because Amazon sells over half the books in the US (book publishing isn't done internationally), publishers and writers have no ability to refuse to sell to Amazon, and Amazon pays much less because of it. A 100% market isn't necessary here, Amazon already ruins careers when they delist books for gay content (yes they still do this, its just a slower process than the everything at once stunt they tried), the threat to anybody who wants the money they lose of a book sale through Amazon instead of anybody else back is very present.